The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC), a new public gallery in the heart of the city, has opened heralding the transformation of Gould Street into a public cultural destination and a pedestrian-friendly environment, complete with the Ryerson Image Centre art gallery, adjacent park with pond and rock garden, Balzac's café, outdoor patio, trees, and a car-free street.

The RIC is part of Ryerson University's major city-building initiative in the core of downtown Toronto – Canada's economic, academic, research and cultural capital. The RIC is located in the new Image Arts Building, designed by Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt Architects, one of the world’s top ten design firms for the cultural building sector.

The Image Arts Building is a rare example of a building that is digitally programmable, making the structure itself a work of art as the public and artists can program the illuminated glass walls transforming Toronto’s night time skyline. The building also features the Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall, a unique grid of arts-dedicated LED screens that are visible from the street. “The Ryerson Image Centre is an international academic facility for teaching, research and exhibitions, but it is also a terrific opportunity to make so many of Ryerson’s holdings - amazing images and works of art - accessible to the public,” said Sheldon Levy, President of Ryerson University. “We are thrilled to be opening this new gallery in the heart of our campus, in the heart of our city.”

The inaugural exhibition, Archival Dialogues: Reading the Black Star Collection, co-curated by Doina Popescu, Director of the Ryerson Image Centre, and Peggy Gale, features new work by eight of Canada’s foremost artists. Internationally-renowned Canadian contemporary artists Stephen Andrews, Christina Battle, Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Stan Douglas, Vera Frenkel, Vid Ingelevics, David Rokeby and Michael Snow have each created new work, commissioned for the grand opening of the Ryerson Image Centre and inspired by the Black Star Collection at Ryerson University.

The RIC grand opening also features an exhibition of works by current students and recent alumni of the School of Image Arts, entitled The Art of the Archive, curated by Gaëlle Morel, Exhibitions Curator at the Ryerson Image Centre. The Ryerson Image Centre brings an exciting new voice to the arts dialogue in Toronto and across the country. Exhibitions and public programs that reflect highly relevant contemporary themes speak to and welcome people from many different walks of life, part of a growing trend toward creative inclusion and openness that will bring the world to Toronto.

Archival Dialogues: Reading the Black Star Collection is made possible through the generous support of the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Ryerson University, the Goethe-Institut Toronto, Partners in Art, The Howard and Carole Tanenbaum Family Charitable Foundation, and The Paul J. Ruhnke Memorial Fund. Ryerson Image Centre Grand Opening Saturday, September 29, 2012 7 p.m. to Sunday, September 30, 2012 7 a.m. Part of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Archival Dialogues: Reading the Black Star Collection New works by Stephen Andrews, Christina Battle, Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Stan Douglas, Vera Frenkel, Vid Ingelevics, David Rokeby and Michael Snow inspired by the Black Star Collection at Ryerson University. Curated by Doina Popescu and Peggy Gale. September 29 - December 16, 2012 Admission is free. Ryerson Image Centre: 33 Gould Street (one block northeast of Yonge and Dundas), Toronto, Ontario, Canada www.ryerson.ca/ric

Autograph ABP one of the UK’s leading arts agencies, working nationally and internationally in the fields of photography, cultural identity and human rights is looking to appoint a Deputy Director with the proven track record to help the organisation build on its successes and assist in the next phase of business and artistic development.

The candidate will play a key role in managing the organisation’s staff, projects and business, including finance and HR issues. They must have extensive experience in a public sector arts organisation at a senior level, be calm under pressure and able to prioritise and undertake a wide range of duties.

The post holder will report to the Director.

Deadline for applications: 22 October 2012.

We regret that applications received after that time will not be considered.

We proudly promote cultural diversity and equal opportunities.

See: http://www.autograph-abp.co.uk/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ABP_Programme&FRM=CMSRightFrame:ABP_558

During 11-15 February 2013 the world's photographs conservation specialists will be meeting in Wellington, NZ.  The meeting will bring together, for the first time in the southern hemisphere, the photographic materials groups from the International Council of Museums, Conservation Committee (ICOM-CC) based in Paris and the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) based in Washington, DC.  The event, initiated by ICOM-CC, will include three days of meeting at Te Papa Tongarewa, and two days for tours and workshops.

The two international groups exist to:

• promote the science and art of conservation of photographic materials
• inform and advise their policy makers and organisations on the preservation and access to photographic material
• foster cooperation and exchange of information and ideas between professionals in their field.

We are expecting 200-250 delegates, representing the greatest number of countries and individuals doing the most diverse work in photographs conservation and preservation.  They will come from the great libraries, museums, archives and galleries of the world and of course from New Zealand.  As well as conservation specialists the delegates will include directors, curators, collection managers and teachers of conservation, museology, etc.

The website for the meeting is www.wellington2013photographicmaterials.org.nz  and over the next couple of weeks and months it will be added to and enriched. Registration opens in October when there will also be more information about workshops and Wellington accommodation available on the site. A large number of abstracts for papers was received and there has now been a Call for Posters. Details for the call for posters are on the website.

The Call for Posters is available for download at the meeting website:

http://www.wellington2013photographicmaterials.org.nz/index.html  and the information is included below in this email message.

The deadline for Poster submissions is November 2, 2012.

-----------------------

Call for Posters

The joint meeting of the AIC Photographic Materials Group and the ICOM-CC Photographic Materials Working Group will be held at the Museum of New Zealand

Te Papa Tongarewa, during 11–15 February, 2013. The meeting will include three days of conference (Wednesday - Friday, February 13-15) and two days for workshops and tours (Monday and Tuesday, February 11 and 12). Additional information about related events and activities appears on the website: http://www.wellington2013photographicmaterials.org.nz/index.html    (Information will continue to be added to the website over the next couple of weeks and months.)

The combined meeting brings together the world’s practitioners in the field of photographs conservation. There will be a limited amount of space at the meeting venue for posters. Submissions of posters concerning all aspects of photographic preservation and conservation are welcome.

The posters cannot exceed 1.2 m (48 inches) in height by 1.0 m (40 inches) in width.

The deadline for submissions is 2 November 2012.

Please send your abstracts for posters, including the following:

1. Title

2. Author(s) name(s) and contact details 3. A summary of the poster, outlining its purpose, principal findings and conclusions, not exceeding 300 words.

Abstracts will be evaluated by the PMG Program Chair and the PMWG Coordinator.

Please email your submissions or questions to:

AIC PMG Program Chair

Monique Fischer

mfischer@nedcc.org

or

ICOM-CC PMWG Coordinator

Marc Harnly

mharnly@getty.edu

On receipt of an abstract, authors should receive an email confirming the receipt of their submission.

Notification of acceptance for posters will be confirmed by 14 November, 2012.

-----------------------------

Barbara Brown

PMG Chair

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film announced today the appointment of Dr. Bruce Barnes as the Ron and Donna Fielding Director. Barnes will assume his role as eighth director of the museum—the world’s oldest museum of photography and one of the largest motion-picture archives—in October 2012. 

Barnes is the president and founder of American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation (ADA1900), a private foundation based in New York City, that works independently and in collaboration with museums across the United States to foster understanding and appreciation of American decorative art from the period around 1900.

Barnes is coauthor and editor of The Jewelry and Metalwork of Marie Zimmermann (2011), which was copublished by ADA1900 and Yale University Press. ADA1900 also copublished The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs (2008), an award-winning scholarly book that accompanied an exhibition of the same title co-organized by ADA1900 and the Milwaukee Art Museum. The exhibition traveled to the Dallas Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, Huntington Art Collections, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Barnes was chief executive officer of Element K, a Rochester-based company and pioneer in online learning, from 2000-2004, overseeing more than 800 employees. Over the course of his career, Barnes has held senior executive positions at Ziff Communications Company, Ziff Brothers Investments, Wasserstein Perella & Co., Reservoir Capital Group, and QFS Asset Management. He received a B.A., magna cum laude, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.       

"I am honored to be selected to serve as the next director of George Eastman House,” said Barnes. “The range of its activities and opportunities is exhilarating. George Eastman House is a vital part of Rochester’s community. The museum’s unparalleled collections—in the areas of photography, cinema, and their technologies—and curators make important contributions on the international cultural scene, and its leading post-graduate programs advance the imperative of photography and film preservation around the world."

“Having devoted most of the last seven years to collaborating with major museums across the country and furthering art scholarship, I am eager to apply my strategic and management skills to leading George Eastman House,” he said. “The house and a great many of the museum’s objects fall precisely within my longstanding interest in American art, decorative art, and architecture of the period from 1876 to 1940. My background in innovative online education will be invaluable to the creation of a virtual museum that will provide global access to its superb collections. I look forward to returning to Rochester and working with the Eastman House board of trustees and staff to advance the museum’s tradition of excellence and service to the community.”

“George Eastman House is an international treasure, a source of local pride, and a complex organization,” said Thomas H. Jackson, chairman of the George Eastman House Board of Trustees. “In Bruce Barnes, we have found the perfect individual to continue the museum’s progress and build the local, national, and international infrastructure and connections that will be essential to Eastman House’s future.

“Our collections and location, important in themselves, are also the springboard for essential work in preservation and an understanding of how the image can inform as well as reflect society,” Jackson said. “Dr. Barnes understands these interconnections in an impressively deep way and has the vision to take our past accomplishments and turn vision into reality. His extraordinary talents across so many dimensions are matched by his passion for George Eastman House and its potentiality. That’s a wonderful, winning, combination.”

Barnes’s appointment is the outcome of an international search process. He succeeds Dr. Anthony Bannon, who retired from George Eastman House in May after 16 years in the position.  

“The Search Committee feels extraordinarily fortunate to have found in Dr. Barnes the combination of skills, experience, and passion needed for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the George Eastman House,” said James A. Locke III, the George Eastman House trustee who chaired the Search Committee. “He is quite a remarkable fit for us with his excellent academic background, financial acumen, with prior positions with top Wall Street financial firms, and tested leadership as a CEO in Rochester.

“He is also an engaged collector with scholarly and passionate interests in the arts and museums,” Locke said. “Dr. Barnes can and will be an energetic and transformational leader who surely will make a great difference at George Eastman House and, in the view of the Search Committee, he will make a great difference in the presence and importance of the museum and its varied missions here and globally. We are thrilled with his appointment.”

About George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film

George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film combines world-class collections of photography and film with an active program of exhibitions, lectures, film screenings, and the National Historic Landmark house and gardens of George Eastman, the philanthropist and father of popular photography and motion picture film. Eastman House is also a leader in film preservation and photograph conservation, educating archivists and conservators from around the world through historic-process workshops and two graduate schools, the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation and the Photographic Preservation and Collections Management master’s degree program. Eastman House, which was established as an independent non-profit museum in 1947, is one of the world’s foremost museums of photography and the third largest motion-picture archive in the United States. The museum intertwines unparalleled collections, totaling more than 4 million objects, of photography, motion pictures, and cameras and technology, as well as literature of these fields of study. Learn more at eastmanhouse.org

Foto8 is pleased to announce an exhibition of photography by Mike Seaborne, comprising two of his long-term projects, Thames Estuary and Facades. East of the City of London, the Thames was traditionally both the industrial backbone and backyard of London. The gradual loss of docks and heavy industry in favour of business and residential development has drastically transformed parts of east London. Seaborne’s Thames Estuary series explores the effects of neglect, dereliction and development on that large swathe of London which comprises the estuary and its hinterland. It shows us places we had never noticed and raises questions about the relationship between the city’s river and the people and wildlife that coexist along its edges.

Seaborne began the Facades series in 2004, photographing what he refers to as the ‘zone of transition’ in inner city London where the urban fabric reflects the constantly shifting population. In these images he has focused on the south and east of the city where run-down residential, commercial and industrial buildings, often built during the Victorian period or earlier, were relatively cheap to rent or to buy and therefore attractive to economic migrants and new businesses. These are the buildings that Seaborne concentrates on, the derelict and undeveloped that are ‘For Sale’ or ‘To Let’, awaiting change. These areas are now subject to the economic forces of regeneration and the buildings await their fate from either redevelopment or gentrification.

Mike Seaborne began photographing London in 1979 when he was appointed Curator of Photographs at the Museum of London. Since then he has explored much of the capital and has completed many projects for the museum and independently. In 1986 he began a long-term landscape project recording deindustrialisation, changing patterns of land use and new city infrastructures. He has concentrated on using medium and large-format cameras to reveal the minutiae of his subjects and, while embracing digital technology, his finished work retains obvious links with that of earlier practitioners whose aim was to assemble visual collections of aspects of the city that might soon be lost or have simply been overlooked or forgotten.

Mike Seaborne
London: Landscapes in Transition
16–27 October 2012
In collaboration with BERNARD QUARITCH

An illustrated catalogue is available. 

For further information and images contact yasmin@foto8.com, 020 7253 8801

The 2012 UK conference of the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography (AHFAP) is to be held at the Dulwich Picture Gallery on Monday, 19 November. It  promises as ever to be an exciting event with speakers on a wide range of subjects and with plenty of opportunity for social and professional exchange. Highlights of the day will include:

• Tate Gallery painting conservator Annette King, will speak on a project to xray some of the gallery’s paintings by Picasso
• James Davis from Google talks about Google Art
• James Stevenson talks about the life and work of photographer Claude Cahun
• Sophie Gordon from the Royal Collection will speak on the collection’s extensive photographic archive
• Dave Baker will speak about his photographic project Urban Guerilla
• Poster display, members are invited to submit proposals, printing will be arranged by the association

Members and their guests are invited to attend, with limited availability on the day.
Conference fee is £25. Further details will be posted on the association’s website as soon as they become available. http://www.ahfap.org.uk/conferences/2012-uk-conference/

The details for Day 2, the customary and popular day of social activities for members are also now available on the website page above.

About AHFAP
AHFAP was founded in 1985 by groups of photographers in the photographic studios at some of the national museums in London. Hitherto these studios were working in isolation from each other and there was little communication between them. It was recognised that closer ties would benefit the profession and the association has met regularly ever since with an annual conference held in London in the autumn. The association’s main function is to raise the profile of image professionals in the cultural heritage sector and to encourage the exchange of professional knowledge and experience. There are now over 300 members in the UK in all types of cultural institutions, from the largest museums to small commercial galleries and freelance fine art photographers.  AHFAP membership is restricted to imaging professionals in the cultural heritage sector. Please contact the membership secretary for further details. http://www.ahfap.org.uk/contact-us/

Birmingham's Library has loaned two sets of important photographs from its nationally and internationally significant collections to a major exhibition in Guangzhou, China. The photographs are being hand-carried by curator Pete James. 

The exhibition, The Unseen, to be shown at the Guangdong Museum of Art, forms part of the Guangzhou Triennial Festival. The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial, one of the biggest art events in China, is curated by Jiang Jiehong, Director of Centre for Chinese Visual Arts (Birmingham City University) and Ikon Gallery director Jonathan Watkins. The Unseen refers to the complexity of ways of seeing, focusing our attention on the invisible, but by no means precluding the visible. http://www.gdmoa.org/

The Library is loaning 18 photographs by Felice Beato taken in Canton in 1860 and 12 photographs by Dr Harold E. Edgerton, the pioneer of high-speed photography, from his portfolio Seeing the Unseen, 1977.

The loan of the Beato images follows the visit of Dr Luo Yiping, Director of Guangdong Museum of Art, to the Library earlier this year to see a range of historical and contemporary photographs of China held in the Library Collections. The Beato photographs were first shown in an exhibition From Canton to Guangzhou, curated by Pete James, Head of Photography at the Library and Dr Jiang Jiehong, at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2008.

The Edgerton photographs are drawn from a portfolio of prints, Seeing the Unseen, which were shown as part of a collaborative project with the Ikon gallery in 2010. Edgerton’s invention in the 1930s of a photographic process based on rapid, stroboscopic instances of light or ‘flash’ was a catalytic event in the history of photography, science and art. Using this method Edgerton’s images reveal in precise detail previously unseen aspects of reality.

See: www.nicolashipleyarts.blogspot.com

Image: Dr Jiang Jiehong, Centre for Chinese Visual Arts, Birmingham City University, and Dr Luo Yipping (2nd right) and family visiting Birmingham Central Library.

An enquirer is seeking information about the 'Greatest collection of photos of Novelties and Freaks' which was collected and exhibited by Showman Harry Addison between 1872-1912. Half of this collection was bought by showman Tom Norman and the other half was purchased and put on permanent exhibition in the windows of the Marquis of Granby public House, Shaftesbury Avenue, London.

 My great grandfather was Harry Addison (see photo, right) and I am wondering what happened to his photographs.

Contact: Pat Jones e: patjones25@gmail.com

The Art Newspaper carries an interview with the curators of the National Gallery's upcoming exhibition Seduced by Art. The piece also gives a wider perspective on how photography has been collected in Britain over recent years. The short extract below gives a flavour of the piece: 

Most strikingly, the National Gallery holds its first photography show, “Seduced By Art: Photography Past and Present”, this month.Why has the National Gallery taken this step now? “It is the right moment in that we are continuing to look at all the ways in which the European Old Master painting tradition continues to be relevant for artistic practice today in its broadest definition,” says Christopher Riopelle, the show’s co-curator. 

His collaborator, Hope Kingsley, a curator at the Wilson Centre for Photography, London, points out that photography at the National Gallery should not seem so novel, given that the museum’s first director, Sir Charles Eastlake, was also the inaugural president of what became the Royal Photographic Society, and his wife, Elizabeth, was an important writer on photography. 

“They were embedded in the nascent photography scene in London,” Kingsley says.The National Gallery’s show charts the effect of the museum’s collection on photographers in that early period, including French pioneer Gustave Le Gray and Julia Margaret Cameron, and on contemporary artists, including Richard Billingham and Martin Parr. 

“By choosing the very beginning of photography, the first 30 years, and the past 30 years, we can focus this as a specific and visually intense show rather than it being a diffuse survey of points at which photography and painting intersect,” Kingsley says. 

To read the full piece go to: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/whatson/event/Seduced-by-Art:-Photography-Past-and-Present/1120734

Since 1897, when Sir Benjamin Stone established the National Photographic Record Association (NPRA), photographers have had a fascination with the rites and rituals of Britain. Photography and folklore practice have a complimentary relationship – the medium of photography captures the ephemeral moment. Despite existing in the here and now, both photography and folklore are an act of remembrance. Photographs act as a repository of these fleeting happenings, and constitute an artefact of folklore in themselves.

With contributions from Faye Claridge, Matthew Cowan, Doc Rowe, the Benjamin Stone Collection, Flickr and more.

Founded in 2009 by renowned art director, Simon Costin, the Museum of British Folklore aims to promote, celebrate and re-evaluate the folk culture of Britain.

The Museum is currently producing a two year exhibition programme in conjunction with regional art organisations across the UK, giving audiences a taste of what will be on show when the Museum of British Folklore is established in a permanent home.

Collective Observations:

Folklore & Photography from Benjamin Stone to Flickr Towner Art Gallery, Eastboune

13 October 2012 - 6 January 2013 (free)

http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/collective-observations-folklore-photography-from-benjamin-stone-to-flickr/

Image: Doc Rowe, Padstow Oss Mayday © Doc Rowe

Bexley Heritage Trust unveils Illuminated World exhibition at Hall Place. A unique exploration of early photography from an extraordinary local man Hall Place, situated in Bexley, a Tudor mansion set in magnificent sixty five hectares of gardens, is this autumn welcoming a unique photography exhibition; Illuminated World.

Opening October 6, it showcases local man, Arthur Boswell’s (1880-1966) rare collection of early Victorian photography that he took and compiled throughout his lifetime. Visitors will be taken on a fascinating journey of people and places from African plains, Norwegian fjords to Italian cities, contrasted with Bexley and the local area all as they were a century ago. Illuminated World will provide a magical encounter of life in Victorian times and an appreciation of the customs and cultures that would have enchanted observers during an era when people were travelling more than ever before. Visitors can also learn about photographic techniques of the time with original apparatus on display.

The exhibition will lead visitors through a series of splendid rooms in Hall Place each more captivating than the last as it charts Boswell’s exploration through imagery of the world, coming back to his beloved Bexley. Unearthed from the town’s local archive, this is the first time the images created from original glass lantern slides have been on show to the public and the selection represents only a fraction of the total of some 14,000 images.

Piecing together this curious collection was Kirsty Macklen, Collections Manager, Hall Place: “Little is known of both Boswell and indeed of many of the subjects shown in the pictures which makes them both captivating and mysterious. By definition photography was so different then which makes for an interesting counterpoint to the pervasiveness of
digital photography today.”

What is known anecdotally of Boswell was his apparent joie de vivre which extended to every part of his life as he took on a variety of professions from historian to palmist. However, no passion was so apparent as his love for his local area and for visual arts, working both as an amateur photographer and cinema projectionist.

The exhibition that runs until March 17 aims to put Hall Place firmly on the map of must sees in Kent, and marks its recent inclusion in the National Trust Partners scheme. Caroline Worthington, Chief Executive of Bexley Heritage Trust commented: “Illuminated World is an exhibition we are delighted to unveil. We know it will appeal equally to photography and history lovers as much as it will to local residents. This continues a series of innovative and engaging exhibitions as we aim to cement Hall Place as a must-visit tourist destination and attract more visitors from the capital and around the UK.”

The exhibition was made possible with support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Max Communications Ltd. in association with Bexley Local Studies and Archive Centre.

Visitor Information

Opening hours
October 6 – March 17, 2013 (daily 10am-5pm, last entry 4.30pm)

Location
Illuminated World, Hall Place, Bexley, Kent, DA5 1PQ
By road
Just off the A2 at the Black Prince interchange 5 miles from Junction 2 of the M25 towards London.
Free parking.
By train:
From London via Cannon Street, Charing Cross, London Bridge.
Oyster card applicable route from London

Admission
Adults £7, concessions/under 16s £5, family £20
Admission is free with a National Art Pass. National Trust members discount applies
Gift Aid your ticket for unlimited entry for one year

A major photographic exhibition, Man Ray Portraits, opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 7 February 2013. Devoted to one of the most innovative and influential artists of his generation, the exhibition will include over 150 vintage prints from Man Ray’s career taken between 1916 and 1968. Drawn from private collections and major museums including the Pompidou Centre, the J. Paul Getty Museum and New York’s The Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, and special loans from the Man Ray Trust Archive, the majority of the works have not previously been exhibited in the UK. 

• First museum exhibition to focus on Man Ray’s photographic portraiture
  
  
• Includes works never before exhibited in the UK including studies of Barbette, Catherine Deneuve, Ava Gardner, Lee Miller and Kiki de Montparnasse.
  
  

Portraits of Man Ray’s celebrated contemporaries will be shown in the exhibition, alongside his personal and often intimate portraits of friends, lovers and his social circle. His versatility and experimentation as an artist is illustrated throughout all of his photography although this was never his chosen principal artistic medium. The exhibition brings together photographic portraits of cultural figures and friends including Marcel Duchamp, Berenice Abbott, Andre Breton, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, James Joyce, Erik Satie, Henri Matisse, Barbette, Igor Stravinsky, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dali, Le Corbusier, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, Coco Chanel and Wallis Simpson. Also on show will be portraits of his lovers Kiki de Montparnasse (Alice Prin) and Lee Miller, who was also his assistant, Ady Fidelin and his last muse and wife Juliet Browner.

Philadelphia-born Man Ray (1890 – 1976) spent his early life in New York, turning down a scholarship to study architecture in order to devote himself to painting. He initially taught himself photography in order to reproduce his works of art but in 1920 he began to work as a portrait photographer to fund his artwork. In 1915, whilst at Ridgefield artist colony in New Jersey, he met the French artist Marcel Duchamp and together they tried to establish New York Dada. His friendship with Duchamp led to Man Ray’s move to Paris in 1921, where, as a contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, he was perfectly placed to make defining images of his contemporaries from the avant-garde. In this period he was instrumental in developing and producing a type of photogram which he called ‘Rayographs’, and is credited in inventing, alongside his lover and collaborator Lee Miller, the process of solarisation. The use of solarisation can be seen in the portraits of Elsa Schiaparelli, Irene Zurkinden, Lee Miller, Suzy Solidor and his own Self-Portrait with Camera included in the exhibition.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Man Ray left France for the US and took up residence in Hollywood. Although officially devoting himself once more to painting, new research has revealed that Man Ray made a number of significant photographic portraits during his Hollywood years, and several are shown for the first time in this exhibition. Film star subjects included Ruth Ford, Paulette Goddard, Ava Gardner, Tilly Losch and Dolores del Rio. Returning to Paris in 1951 he again made the city his home until his death in 1976. His portraits from the 1950s include experiments with colour photography, such as his portraits of Juliette Greco and Yves Montand, and the exhibition closes with his portrait of film star Catherine Deneuve from 1968.

Man Ray Portraits is curated by the National Portrait Gallery’s Curator of Photographs, Terence Pepper, whose previous exhibitions at the Gallery include the award-winning Vanity Fair Portraits (2008), Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed (2009), Angus McBean: Portraits (2006), Cecil Beaton: Portraits (2004) and Horst: Portraits (2001).

EXHIBITION AND TOUR

The exhibition will run from 7 February – 27 May 2013 at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Advanced booking is recommended. Gift Aid admission £14. Concessions £13 / £12. Standard price admission £12.70. Concessions £11.80/ £10.90. Tickets: www.npg.org.uk/ManRay or 020 7766 7331

Man Ray Portraits will tour to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from 22 June – 8 September 2013 and the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow from 14 October 2013 – 19 January 2014.

Actress Alex Kingston knows that her great-grandfather, William Keevil, died during the First World War, leaving behind a wife and young family - including Alex's then 4-year-old grandmother. Alex sets out to investigate exactly what happened to William, and discovers how his pre-war career as a photographer put him in an unusual position.

Alex has also heard rumours of Jewish ancestry in her family tree. Her quest to discover if this is true takes an unexpected turn, leading to a story involving her four-times great-grandmother, Elizabeth Braham, another widow with young children. As Alex delves further into Elizabeth's life, she is astonished to discover the unconventional enterprise Elizabeth undertook to avoid sliding into poverty.

BPH's Michael Pritchard discusses Alex's ancestor in the stores of the National Media Museum.

The programme airs on BBC1 on Wednesday, 19 September 2012 at 2100. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mxvn2

The link to the BBC iPlayer is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01mxvn2/Who_Do_You_Think_You_Are_Series_9_Alex_Kingston/

Photo: Michael Pritchard and Alex Kingston at the National Media Museum, Bradford, with a framed photograph of her ancestor.

In conversation with Andrew Lacon, Stuart Whipps, Pete James.  Pete James, Head of Photographs at Birmingham Central Library talks to Andrew Lacon and Stuart Whipps about the work they are making for REFERENCE WORKS: the Library of Birmingham Photography Project.

The project, Birmingham’s largest photography commission, sees four photographers and four students/graduates from Birmingham City University making creative responses to the existing and new library building. The discussion will outline the scope of the commission; describe the process of making new work and the vital role of the Library’s nationally and internationally significant collections at the heart of the new iconic cultural institution.

The event is the first in a series of Photographers Talks linked to REFERENCE WORKS, the Library of Birmingham Photography Project.
www.reference-works.com
Thursday 1 November 2012
6.00 – 7.30pm
Library Theatre, off Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ
Admission Free

The Scientific Instrument Society is pleased to announce that the Society's twentieth Medal Lecture will be delivered by Dr Willem Hackmann, who will speak on Spectacular Science through the Magic Lantern on 23 November at 6pm, at the Society of Antiquaries, London.

The lecture is free and open to the general public, with no booking required. Doors open 5.30pm, and the lecture will be followed by a bookable buffet reception from 7pm. For further details on this event, including how to book for the buffet, please see the Society’s website:

See: http://www.sis.org.uk/home/news-archive/138-twentieth-annual-invitation-lecture

Archisle: The Jersey Contemporary Photography Programme, hosted by the Société Jersiaise (Jersey Society) in Jersey, Channel Islands promotes contemporary photography through an ongoing programme of exhibitions, education and commissions. The Archisle project connects photographic archives, contemporary practice and experiences of island cultures and geographies through the development of a space for creative discourse between Jersey and international practitioners.

Archisle is currently inviting applications for the position of Photographer in Residence launching in 2013. This is an exciting new post commencing in April/May running for six months through to September/October 2013.

The residency provides the following key benefits and opportunities:

 - £10,000 bursary for the commission/production of a body of work and solo exhibition

- Studio space with access to inkjet printing and office/internet resources
- Living accommodation and expenses
- Travel costs 

For further details please see: www.archisle.org.je

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS 15TH OCTOBER 2012

London and Bradford, 13 September 2012 – The National Media Museum in Bradford has unveiled the earliest colour moving pictures ever made. The Museum will now invite the public to see these vivid images from its Collection for the first time in over a hundred years in a new display which opens today.

These films were made by photographer and inventor Edward Turner using a process he patented with his financial backer Frederick Lee in 1899. Experts at the Museum have dated the films to 1901/2, making these the earliest examples of colour moving pictures in existence.

Lee and Turner’s invention has always been regarded by film historians as a practical failure but it has now been ‘unlocked’ through digital technology, revealing the images produced by the process for the first time in over a hundred years. It’s also a story of young death and commercial intrigue in the earliest days of the film industry.

Turner developed his complex three-colour process with support, first from Lee and then from the American film entrepreneur, Charles Urban. Using a camera and projector made by Brighton-based engineer Alfred Darling, Turner developed the process sufficiently to take various test films of colourful subjects such as a macaw, a goldfish in a bowl against a brightly striped background and his children playing with sunflowers, before his death in 1903 aged just 29. Urban went on to develop the process further with the pioneer film-maker George Albert Smith which resulted in the commercially successful Kinemacolor system, patented in 1906 and first exhibited to the public in 1909. Sadly, Turner’s widow never received a penny from her husband’s invention.

On discovering the film, Michael Harvey, Curator of Cinematography at the National Media Museum worked with film archive experts Brian Pritchard and David Cleveland to reconstruct the moving footage in colour following the precise method laid out in Lee and Turner’s 1899 patent. They turned to experts at the BFI National Archive who were able to undertake the delicate work of transforming the film material into digital files, and so the team were able to watch these vivid colour moving pictures for the first time, over one hundred years since they had been made.

Michael Harvey said: “We sat in the editing suite entranced as full-colour shots made 110 years ago came to life on the screen. The image of the goldfish was stunning: its colours were so lifelike and subtle. Then there was a macaw with brilliantly coloured plumage, a brief glimpse of soldiers marching and, most interestingly, young children dressed in Edwardian finery. I realised we had a significant find on our hands. We had proved that the Lee and Turner process worked but it remained to identify who those children were and establish as precisely as possible when these first colour images were made.”

Through analysis of documentary evidence including the fact that the camera was completed in 1901 and that Turner died in March 1903, as well as genealogical research into the Turner family, the National Media Museum was able to confidently date most of the films to 1901/2 making them the earliest colour moving pictures made.

The public can see the Lee and Turner footage for the first time in more than one hundred years as it premieres today, 13 September, as part of a free display, at the National Media Museum in Bradford. Bradford was designated the world’s first UNESCO City of Film in 2009. The display also features the story of the Lee and Turner footage and shows the unique and complicated projector used for the system along with related items from the Charles Urban Archive which is part of the National Cinematography Collection.

Paul Goodman, Head of Collections at the National Media Museum said: “This wonderful rediscovery highlights the untapped potential of the National Media Museum’s Collection, and the Lee & Turner films can now take their rightful place alongside other unique artefacts and world–firsts which the Museum holds. Moreover, it highlights the Museum’s leading role in validating and challenging received wisdom about the subject matter it represents: film history can now be rewritten as a result of this marvellous find.”

The project was supported with funding from Yorkshire Film Archive and Screen Yorkshire - project partners for the restoration of the Lee and Turner collection.

A BBC documentary about the discovery of the Lee and Turner footage will screen on 17 September in the South East and Yorkshire.

With exclusive access to the National Media Museum, BBC South East tells story of this remarkable discovery in ‘The Race For Colour’. Presented by broadcaster, journalist and film critic Antonia Quirke, the documentary follows the astonishing discovery of the earliest colour moving pictures ever; and looks back at the wonder of movies in the Edwardian age and the history of the colour film industry. ‘The Race For Colour’ is on BBC One (South East and Yorkshire) on Monday 17 September 2012, at 7.30pm and can also be viewed via the BBC iPlayer.

The BBC programme can be seen here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01mw0cl/Race_for_Colour/

Photo Caption: Alfred Raymond Turner (1898-1994), Agnes May Turner (1896-1920) and Wilfred Sidney Turner (1901-1990), 1902, National Media Museum/SSPL

Christie's is to offer Tryggve Gran's (1889-1980) ICA Ideal 325 plate camera, in an auction on 9 October 2012. The camera was supplied by H. Abel, Christiania, and used on Scott's Terra Nova expedition, 1910-14; leather covered case, with Carl Zeiss Jena Nr.125838 Doppel Amatar 1:6,8 F16,5cm DRP196734lens, with Gran's canvas carrying case -- 9in. (23cm.) high, in case 

with Gran's 4 x 5in. copy negative, Grave on The Great Ice Barrier (The Last Rest, the grave of Scott, Wilson and Bowers) (2)

See: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectId=5605363

Leicester: New Walk Museum & Art Gallery are delighted to announce one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of August Sander’s work in England, presenting 175 works by one of the twentieth century’s most important photographers. The exhibition of German photographer August Sander (1876-1964) draws together 175 photographs and a wide range of archival material from the collections of Tate, National Galleries of Scotland, Anthony d’Offay and Gerd Sander. 

This presentation creates a unique opportunity to see the different facets of August Sander’s photographic practice, including his celebrated portraits alongside less well known aspects of his work.

August Sander’s most significant project was ‘The People of the Twentieth Century’. Sander wanted to create an encyclopaedic survey of different types of people from the first half of the twentieth century. His working life in Germany spanned the First World War, the interwar years, the rise of the Nazi party, the Second World War and its aftermath.

His photographs are unflinching documents of a society going through huge change. The work reflects both the catastrophic political convulsions that Germany was enduring and a society slowly coming to terms with the impact of industrialisation. The clarity and breadth of his vision remains powerful and his vocational portraits still resonate today.

Curated by August Sander’s Grandson, Gerd Sander, the selection of work reflects his understanding both of Sander’s technical genius and the context in which the photographs were produced, knowing many of the stories behind the sitters and their relationship to Sander. 

August Sander is a key figure in the history of photography and his influence as a photographer can be felt across the 20th century through the work of Diane Arbus, Walker Evans and Bernd and Hilla Becher. It continues to fascinate today. 

August Sander’s exhibition will be presented alongside Leicester’s internationally acclaimed collection of 20th century German Expressionist art and touring exhibition of George Grosz from the Hayward Gallery. Offering a unique opportunity to view Sander’s work alongside German artists from the same period.

View August Sander Image Gallery 

ARTIST ROOMS: August Sander 
29th September 2012 - 6th January 2013 
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester 

Presenting one of the most comprehensive 
exhibitions of August Sander’s work in England.

T: 0116 225 4900
E: museums@leicester.gov.uk  
W: www.leicester.gov.uk/augustsander  

New York – An exhibition of early work by William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of the photographic negative, will be on view at Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs from September 25 through November 2, 2012. Talbot’s World: A Gallery of Natural Magic will present more than 25 photogenic drawings, calotype negatives, and salt prints, 1839-1844, comprising a rare selection of photographs on paper from these early years. Most of the works have never before been displayed. A fully illustrated catalogue with text by the Talbot scholar Larry J. Schaaf accompanies the exhibition.

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), a brilliant scientist, conceived of the art of photography during the 1830s, combining the use of a camera obscura with light-sensitive chemistry. Unlike the other early photographic processes, heliography and the daguerreotype, Talbot’s negative-positive process on paper became the basis of all modern photography.

The title of this exhibition is drawn from a recently discovered 1839 pamphlet, A Description of the Instruments Employed in the Gallery of Natural Magic, which includes a sonnet in honor of Talbot’s achievement. As Schaaf writes in the exhibition catalogue, “No one was more surprised at the magical dimensions of photography than the inventor himself, William Henry Fox Talbot. His scientific side realized that he had simply harnessed natural magic. Everything that he had accomplished could be explained within Nature’s laws, yet that made the new art no less a marvel to him.”

Among the highlights of Talbot’s World: A Gallery of Natural Magic will be Maidenhair Fern, most likely made in early 1839, within months of the public announcement of photography. This crisply delineated plant form is a strikingly robust photogenic drawing in lavender and mauve. Unique photograms such as this are precursors to modern abstractions.

To find a salt print combined with its original paper negative is particularly rare. This exhibition will feature three such pairs. Among the most recognized Talbot images is Footman at Carriage Door, taken October 14, 1840, just weeks after Talbot discovered the calotype negative process. It depicts a liveried footman inviting the viewer into an elegant coach waiting outside Lacock Abbey, Talbot’s home. The salt print in this exhibition will be newly reunited with its original negative, dated in Talbot’s hand. This is the first significant photograph on paper depicting a standing human figure.

Another print recently joined with its negative is Woodhouse and Cart, 27 August 1840. The negative of this picturesque scene is a photogenic drawing made one month before Talbot discovered the latent image.

Two Men in the North Courtyard of Lacock Abbey, 1841-1844, is a staged narrative composition capturing a daily scene in the Abbey. The main characters are shown in a natural pose through the several seconds needed for making this calotype negative. It survives in splendid condition, together with a salt print. Talbot’s calotype marked the shift from the printing-out to the developing-out process, in which a latent image produced in the camera was turned into a visible image through chemical development.

Talbot toured England and France for his pioneering publication, The Pencil of Nature (1844-1846), the first book illustrated with photography and the first mass production of photographs. A majestic view of theChâteau de Chambord is the subject of a richly toned salt print, recording Talbot’s visit to the French castle on 16 June 1843.

In response to the increasing appetite for the first photographs from Talbot and his circle, the exhibition will include other photographs on paper dating from 1839 to 1844. These come mostly from the personal collections of the most distinguished Talbot collectors and scholars who established the field.

Talbot’s World: A Gallery of Natural Magic will be on view at Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs from September 25 through November 2, 2012, 962 Park Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, NY 10028, 12:00 to 6:00pm and by appointment.